Display machine



Sept. 7, 1937. J LEMON 2,092,172

DISPLAY MACHINE Filed May 17, 1935 5 Sheets-Sheet l BY @MM ATTORNEYS.

Sept. 7, MON 2,092,172

DISPLAY MACHINE Filed May 17, 1935 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 ATTORNEYS.

J.-F. LEMON 2,092,172 hnrsrLgy MAQH INE Filed May 17', 1935 s Sheets-Sheet s I 1 VENTOR. MW

ATTORNEYS.

Patented Sept. 7, W37

T TE

Aren't tFlCE DISPLAY MACHINE Application May 17, 1935, Serial No. 22,019

1 Claim.

This invention relates to display machines of the general type shown in Armstrong Patent No. 1,755,761, issued April 22, 1930, and has for its object a construction and arrangement of the carriages which carry the rolls on which display sheets or curtains wind and unwind in such a manner that one roll is used instead of a pair of rollers for each curtain as in Patent No. 1,755,761. Or, in other words, an arrangement whereby each carriage supports a curtain roller having means as a spring tending to wind it, and the curtain winding on that roll is secured at its free end to the next carriage.

As in Armstrong Patent No. 1,755,761, the carriages move through a closed cycle or" movement to a starting position from which the carriage, in starting position, moves across the curtain display area while the preceding carriage is standing still at the starting position, and while so moving the free end of the curtain on the roller, which is standing still at starting position, is attached to the carriage moving across the display area, and this carriage, in so moving, unwinds the display curtain from the roll on the stationary carriage in starting position, and tensions the spring of that curtain roller so that during the next period of operation, the stationary carriage in starting position travels across the display area, and the curtain previously unwound is again wound on its roller, while its carriage is moving across the display area. ,At this time, the preceding carriage, to which the free end of the curtain is anchored or secured, is stationary at the exit side of the display area. Thus, during the movement of any carriage across the display area, it is not only Winding up the curtain previously displayed, but is also unwinding the curtain for the purpose of displaying it from a roll on a carriage stationary at the starting or entrance end of the display area.

In the Armstrong patent, each carriage supports a pair of rollers with curtains on each roller of the pair, each curtain extending between one roller on one carriage to another roller on the next carriage. During the movement of one carriage across the display area, one curtain is unwinding from one of the pair of rollers, and another curtain is winding up on the other of the pair of rollers. The feature of this invention resides in each carriage having but one roller, and with the free end of the curtain winding on that roller secured or anchored only to the next carriage, and not winding on a roller on the next carriage.

Also, in the Armstrong patent, the curtain unwound from a roller on one carriage when being displayed in the display area, winds up on a roller of the next carriage, so that before again displaying the curtain, it is necessary to rewind it back onto the first roller. This rewinding operation takes place in another or return part of the cycle of movement.

Another feature of this invention is the dispensing with the rewinding operation, although the curtain does unwind idly from its roller and again winds up on the roller incidentally during the return of the carriages to starting position at the entrance of the display area.

The invention consists in the novel features and in the combinations and constructions hereinafter set forth and claimed.

In describing this invention, reference is had to the accompanying drawings in which like characters designate corresponding parts in all the views.

Figure 1 is a fragmentary front elevation of a pair of carriages and the curtain between them.

Figure 2 is a sectional view illustrating the closed cycle of movement, and a portion of the mechanism for actuating and timing, or index" ing, the carriages.

Figure 3 is a view, similar to Figure 2, illustrating the path of movement of a carriage across the display area.

The invention comprises generally, a display machine of the character shown in the Armstrong patent, and embodying a plurality of display curtain rolls, a carriage in which each roll is mounted, the carriages being movable in a closed cycle of movement, and operable to carry the rolls intermittently from a starting position in one path across a curtain display area, and in a return path to starting position, each roll being a spring roller, or having other means tending to turn the roller to wind up the curtain, and the curtain on each roller being secured, or anchored, at its outer or free end to the next, or preceding, carriage of the series of carriages, all whereby the carriages move across the display area from the entrance end of the display area, which may be considered the starting position, and when a carriage is so moving across the display area it unwinds the curtain from the roll held stationary at starting position, and at the same time the roll on that carriage winds up the curtain that has been previously displayed, the free end of the latter curtain being anchored to the carriage which has preceded it and which is held stationary at the exit end of the display area.

In this machine, the curtains and carriages move upwardly across the display area, while in the machine of the Armstrong patent, the carriages move downwardly across the display area. The general operation, insofar as actuating the series of carriages in their closed cycle of movement, for guiding them in their movement and controlling the movement thereof, is generally the same as in the Armstrong patent.

l designates generally, the carriages, each carrying a curtain roll 2, and also having a pair of antifriction rollers 3 at each end which move in a guide groove it formed in suitable plates 4 forming part of the frame of the machine, as in the Armstrong patent. The groove 4 is in the form of an oblong having rounding ends and defines the closed cycle of movement of the carriages. Each roll 2 has means tending to wind it as a coiled spring 5 located within the roll 2, and this spring can be given any desired tension. the same as in any spring roller, by ratchet mechanism including a wheel 6 at one end of the roller and held by a pawl 7: from unwinding. After the roll is mounted in the carriage, this pawl l is released. The curtain spring mechanism and the pawl mechanism, form no part of this invention, and any conventional form of curtain winding mechanism may be used.

There are a pair of antifriction guide rollers 3 at each end of each carriage I, and also a bracket i with its track groove 4 at opposite ends of the rolls 2 of the series.

t designates the curtain, each curtain winding on one roll 2, and being connected at its free end to the next carriage of the series, that is the next preceding carriage with respect to the direction of movement of the carriages in the closed cycle of movement. As here shown, each carriage is provided with a batten strip or device 9 by means of which the curtain is anchored or secured to the preceding carriage.

lhe actuating mechanism comprises a pair of sprocket wheels it at each end of the series of rollers, and a chain l l running over the wheels of each pair. One of these wheels H] is connected, in any suitable manner, to a prime mover, as an electric motor, not shown. The front runs of the chains H carries the curtains across the display area. The guide grooves 4 are provided with the same accumulating spaces at the ends of the oblong path and beyond the sprocket wheels it, as in the Armstrong patent.

The sprocket wheels in and chains I! run continuously, and their operation for imparting an intermittent movement to each carriage is as follows: The chain is provided with laterally extending shoulders or rollers #2, 52 at spaced apart points which operate holding pawls or escapement mechanism coacting with the carriages to hold the carriages from movement and couple the carriages at certain stations to the chains so that the carriages travel with the chains. Assuming that the chain is moving in the direction of the arrows Figure 2, the roller 92 at the lower end of Figure 2 engages the cam or inclined surface it of an escapement pawl l4 and forces it outwardly about its pivot it against the action of a returning spring it. The head of this pawl is between opposing parts as two rollers H at each end of each carriage. The escapement pawl M is located to enter between the rollers l! of the carriage at the entrance of the display area. The roller l2, during movement of the chain l i, shifts this escapement pawl M out from between the rollers H of the carriage in starting position, and moves into position between these rollers l'l, so that the chain now picks up the carriage at starting position and moves it upwardly across the display area. At the same time that this occurs, a similar roller iZ shifts outwardly a similar escapement pawl Id and moves between the rollers ll of the carriage about to start downward on the rear or return run of the cycle of movement.

Thus the carriage, which was stationary at A, is carried upward across the display area unwindingthe curtain from the roll of the succeeding carriage which moves into starting position, thus displaying that curtain across the display area. The curtain on the roll of the carriage, so moving across the display area, is winding up the curtain previously displayed. During this operation, the carriage at station 3 is moving downwardly in the return path of the cycle of movement and incidentally unwinding the curtain from its roll, and this curtain so unwound is again incidentally wound up on its roll during the next operation.

A detent I8 is provided at the exit end or the display area for holding the carriage at station D from retrograde movement when free of the roller i2 of the chain ll. This detent is provided with a cam face at M and it is ratcheted against the action of a returning spring H] by the rollers ll of the carriage moving out of the display area.

The carriages accumulate in the end spaces of the guide, as in the Armstrong patent, and are fed through the accumulating spaces by one carriage crowding against the other, all substantially the same as in the Armstrong patent. The jaws M, M and it are arranged in pairs to coact with opposite ends of the carriages.

The feature of this invention lies in the fact that each curtain 8 is secured as at 9 at its free end to one carriage and winds on the curtain roll of the preceding carriage, so that when the carriage that has moved upwardly across the display area reaches the exit end of that area, the curtain 8, whose end is secured thereto, is wound up on the roller of the succeeding carriage as the latter is moving across the display area. The movement across the display area and the return area is effected by the rollers or shoulders l2, l on the chains Ii, which are so spaced as to bring about the proper timing in the movement of the carriages across the display area.

What I claim is:

In a display machine, in combination, a frame structure embodying two endless tracks disposed in parallel spaced relation, each track including parallel front and rear runs interconnected by substantially semi-circular end runs; escapement means supported by said frame structure extending in close proximity to the connecting points of said end runs with said front and rear runs, providing magazines in said end runs and the ends of said front and rear runs intermediate said escapement means; carriages extending between, supported by and adapted to be traversed around said endless tracks and nested in said magazines; conveyor means coacting with said escapement means to actuate the same to successively release said carriages from about said end runs, convey the same across said front and rear runs and discharge the same into said end runs, and a spring tensioned roll carried by each of said carriages having a curtain wound thereon and secured at its free end to the next carriage, each curtain unwinding from its roll while the next preceding carriage is conveyed across said front and rear runs.

JAMES F. LEMON. 

